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Look Back | Louisville pushes to make city more bike friendly

Louisville is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to pump up its reputation as a bike-friendly city — aiming to dramatically increase bike routes, improve safety and soothe a turbulent relationship between motorists and cyclists.

Louisville is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to pump up its reputation as a bike-friendly city — aiming to dramatically increase bike routes, improve safety and soothe a turbulent relationship between motorists and cyclists.

Over the next year, the city will spend $300,000 approved by the Metro Council to create 28 miles of dedicated or shared bike lanes that will connect downtown to the University of Louisville, with links to surrounding neighborhoods including Crescent Hill, Germantown, the Highlands and Portland.

The Urban Bike Network is part of Mayor Greg Fischer's vision to eventually link the 100-mile Louisville Loop project around Jefferson County to the city's urban core, providing alternative transportation that connects residential neighborhoods, recreation areas and civic attractions with shopping, business and entertainment districts.

"Any city that is growing ... is a bicycle-friendly city," Fischer said. "People want more options for getting around. ... We are going to keep pushing this."

That push originated in 2005, when former Mayor Jerry Abramson launched a bike summit that called for improved maintenance on roads and paths traveled by cyclists, new bike lanes and public education — all rooted in an effort to improve public health, quality of life and the economy in Louisville.

New routes planned

The initial effort created 18 miles of bike lanes in two years, and the new funding has kick-started a new round of routes, with crews already painting new lane markings and symbols on roads designed to welcome bicyclists and make them feel safer.

"It creates a hot spot," said David Morse, president of Bicycling for Louisville, a group that has been advocating an urban bike network. "It was a very smart and strategic decision by the city (to) double down there."

Many other cities are improving their bike accommodations, the mayor said, and Louisville needs to do the same to be competitive.

Indianapolis recently announced it would spend $100million on bike lanes, greenways and sidewalks.

Louisville officials also hope to launch a public bike-sharing program by early 2015, seeking a private contractor to operate a program with 200 bikes at 20 undetermined stations, possibly including the Fourth Street corridor.

"The system would allow people to rent bicycles at low cost" within the network of stations "and return them to any other station within the system," according to the city's request for proposals.

But some motorists have doubts about the wisdom of trying to put more bikes on busy city streets that regularly see accidents and near-misses between bikes and cars.

"It's really dangerous for a lot of these people," said Mary Menefee of eastern Louisville, though she supports the addition of bike lanes.

And some bicyclists don't want to be limited to riding in bike lanes, instead saying the focus should be making sure that bike riders and motorists have equal access to all roads.

But Andy Murphy, president of the Louisville Bicycle Club, said many bicyclists "are scared to death to be out there with the cars. Having the opportunity to put in bike lanes is a step forward. If we can make it to where people feel comfortable to get out, we can make a difference."

Tension on the road

City officials acknowledge that Louisville has long had an unfriendly reputation with bicyclists.

Since 2002, the city has had 17 fatal bike accidents, plus hundreds more wrecks resulting in injuries.

Nine of the fatalities resulted when cars or trucks struck bike riders from behind, according to city records.

Terry Keeling, who lives in northeast Louisville, said he applauds the effort of people "getting out and getting exercise," but he gets frustrated being stuck behind slow-moving bicyclists on River Road, which he said is too narrow for bicycles and cars.

"And stop signs don't mean a thing to them," he added.

Bicyclists counter that drivers also fail to follow the rules — too many speed, roll through stop signs, fail to use turn signals and drive while talking or texting on their cellphones.

And they say far too many cars fail to keep 3 feet from a bicyclist when passing, which is required by law.

Many bicyclists feel very exposed, because cars and trucks are so much bigger, heavier and faster, Morse said.

"The problem with motorists and bicyclists is that they are both humans," Morse said, acknowledging that everyone can do better. "Humans are lazy and they make mistakes and they don't take time to fully train themselves."

The mayor agreed.

"There are some cyclists that are not considerate, and there are some motorists who are not considerate," Fischer said. "We are going to have to be figuring that out."

Road diets

City officials say they believe more people are riding bikes now than a decade ago, though they don't have solid statistics to prove that. They also say Louisville's reputation is changing.

For example, South Carolina-based Garden & Gun magazine, which claims a national audience of 700,000, had an out-of-town bicyclist publish a glowing account this year after checking out Louisville.

The article cited the opening of the Big Four bicycle and pedestrian bridge, the Memorial Day and Labor Day hike and bike events that draw more than 10,000 cyclists and an active Louisville Bicycle Club.

"You know Louisville for Churchill Downs and for the amber promise of bourbon that goes down hot and sweet," wrote Vanessa Gregory in the August/September issue. "But it's also emerging as one of America's best cycling cities."

Louisville has also managed to secure bronze status, the first of four bicycle-friendly rankings, from the League of American Bicyclists, which places Kentucky 47th and Indiana 42 among the 50 bike-friendliest states.

Like most cities, Louisville's big problem is that its roads and streets were designed for cars and trucks, said Dirk Gowin, an engineering project coordinator with the Louisville Metro Department of Public Works & Assets.

The good news, he said, is that many Louisville roads are wider than they need to be and can be put on a "diet," to make room for bike lanes.

"There are so many four-lane roadways that ... have excess capacity," he said at a stop on a recent three-hour bicycle ride through Louisville's urban areas. "If we change them from four lanes to three lanes with a dedicated left-turn lane in the middle, they ... don't really change their ability to carry the same number of cars."

At the Frankfort Avenue railroad track crossing in Clifton, Gowin pointed out a new bike lane that takes a bending loop to guide bicyclists safely across the railroad tracks.

Downtown, with its congestion, can pose bigger challenges for making streets safer for bikes, said Gowin said at a stop in front of the old Jefferson County Courthouse on West Jefferson Street.

"In a downtown, you mix everything up," he said. "You have bikes. You have pedestrians and you have cars. There are all kind of opportunities for conflict."

But he also noted that West Jefferson is 60 feet wide, with four traffic lanes and two parking lanes, though only enough motor-vehicle traffic to justify two lanes.

So he said the city is considering going to a single lane in each direction, with a turn lane in the middle, and dedicated bike lanes on each side of the street.

New revenue sought for city

City officials stress that they are not creating the urban bike network for expert riders, who already know how to coexist with traffic.

Rather, the lanes are for less-experienced riders, said Rolf Eisinger, the city's bicycle and pedestrian coordinator.

So far, the city only has money to repaint streets — not develop completely separated lanes for cars and bikes, in addition to sidewalks for pedestrians, Gowin said.

As with anything, how quickly the city realizes its dreams for fully integrating bicycles will depend on funding, said Chris Poynter, the mayor's spokesman. That's why the mayor has been lobbying for a change in state law that would allow a local sales tax option, he said.

"If we had that, we could complete the Louisville Loop in one year," he said, adding that at current funding, it will take at least 20 years.

Fischer said he intends to keep putting "hundreds of thousands of dollars" a year toward a goal of completing the Louisville Loop and getting bicyclists connected to the loop, which includes the urban bike network.

But, he acknowledged: "What we really need are millions and tens of millions."

Reach reporter James Bruggers on the Louisville Bicycle Club's Saturday morning Iroquois Special bike rides, or at (502) 582-4645 and on Twitter @jbruggers.